The Association of Microfinance Institutions - Kenya (AMFI) organized and held the 14th Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit 2010 dubbed ‘AMERMS'. The auspicious event was held at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) from Wednesday, April 7th to Saturday 10th, 2010 and AMFI is deeply indebted to the Government of Kenya, Craft Silicon, Citi Foundation, Equity Bank, Faulu Kenya DTM Limited, Jamii Bora Bank, Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT), Safaricom ‘M-Pesa', Oikocredit and all its members for their financial support that saw the success of the summit. It was through their contribution that this mammoth achievement of the 2010 global summit held in Nairobi was realized.
The summit brought more than 1500 delegates from over 40 countries, with the chief guests being the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Founder of Grameen Bank, Prof. Muhammad Yunus, the Queen of Spain, Princess Maxima and the former Peru president among other distinguished personalities.
The Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit 2010 had two main goals, formulated from the past campaign in 2006. This was an extension of the initial 9 year campaign. The two new goals for 2015 and the goals of the summit were;
1. Working to ensure that 175 million of the world's poorest families, especially the women of those families, are receiving credit for self-employment and other financial and business services. (With an average of five in a family this would affect 875 million family members) and
2. Working to ensure that 100 million of the world's poorest families rise above US $ 1 a day adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP). (With an average of five per family this would mean that 500 million people would have risen above $ 1 a day nearly completing the millennium development goal on halving absolute poverty).
The summit was therefore was an opportunity for the delegates to assess the progress toward the campaign's 2015 goals, share best practices and accelerate innovation. The delegates were also urged to use the summit to create new breakthroughs for themselves and their institutions in the shared commitment to put poverty in the museums where it belongs.
Indeed, the campaign brought together microcredit practitioners, advocates, educational institutions, donor agencies, international financial institutions, NGOs and others involved with microcredit to promote best practices in the field, stimulate the interchanging of knowledge and to work towards reaching the formulated goals in (1) and (2). The core themes of the microcredit summit were articulated as reaching the poorest, reaching and empowering women, building financially self-sufficient institutions and ensuring a positive, measurable impact on the lives of clients and their families.
Suffice to say, the Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit marked as a great achievement in the calendar of AMFI. The propitious event was opened by His Excellency the President of Kenya, Hon. Mwai Kibaki and was graced with a colorful and vibrant closing ceremony by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta at the same venue (KICC). The Prime Minister of Kenya, Hon. Raila Odinga graced the event through an acknowledgement, presented by his deputy and Minister of Finance.
A notable constituent of the Africa-Middle East Regional Microcredit Summit was the exhibition. The exhibition was an opportunity for the microfinance institutions (MFIs), Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), International organizations and the Jua Kali sector to showcase their products, disseminate information about them and for the Jua Kali sector, capitalize on the gratis market. Indeed, the exhibitors got the most out of the exhibition and were indebted to AMFI for the opportunity.
Please visit the website for the summit presentations later
Also send queries and comments to info@amfikenya.com
